Tough to beat this one - ATN Thor LTV 2-6x25mm Thermal Imaging Rifle Scopes Gen 5

If you don't need ballistics and bluetooth to phone or tablet, this is the thermal scope. You're getting a great processor, thermal sensor, screen resolution. The dollars are going directly towards matter here, and not all the ancillary BS that doesn't effect the performance. Has the things you need, like 1-shot zero, multiple color pallets, and such. I have compared this to and used the Pulsar Trail XP50 as well, which has the same performance specs as this scope, and its extremely comparable in performance, for half the price. I absolutely recommend this LTV640 and only waited as long as I did because I thought I needed to budget $5000 for thermal. Not the case at all with this one!

One recommendation, on the AR15 platform, get the 30mm extra high rings. I couldn't get my eye behind it properly with high, and the mediums didn't lift the scope off the rail high enough to get it mounted. Also, I never found a 1-piece mount to fit it. You need at the absolute minimum, 3.5 inches of clearance between the rings.

My only real complaint is on the rubber boot. It cuts off the edges of the screen and can be difficult to get your eye directly in line with it and the screen. I am running the scope without the rubber boot, would prefer to use it, but it's more of a hinderance than helpful.

Being it doesn't have an external battery, and I didn't want to have to bring the gun close to a plug to charge the scope, I went with the Sightmark external battery that mount to picatinny rails. It's light and in my opinion, a better option than the ATN that mounts to the buttstock.